“Over the last year, Batteries Plus Bulbs has increased its product access by 13% to more than 45,000 batteries, light bulbs, and related accessories from 40,000 the previous year,” said Russ Reynolds, CEO. The company has grown in recent years, adding both new products and opening new store locations. It has 580 locations nationwide, the first of which was opened in 1988 in Green Bay. The West Allis location where Wendt works is one of 350 locations to have made the transition from ‘Batteries Plus’ to ‘Batteries Plus Bulbs,’ which officially began taking place in late 2012, though the stores began offering light bulbs in 2010.īatteries Plus Bulbs is owned by Roark Capital Group, an Atlanta-based private equity firm. Two months into incorporating device repair, said Wendt, his store is doing about seven to ten repairs per week, and the current goal is bring that number up to two per day. So that’s the only thing we don’t work on at the store.” If the water gets inside the unit, it can be dried off, but it could harm some of the delicate components inside. Anything that’s water damaged we have to send in to our center to do a diagnosis. Wendt added, “The only devices that there’s really a question on that would be beyond repair, possibly, would be anything that might be water damaged. But so far, said Wendt, “There hasn’t been anything that’s come up that we haven’t been able to (repair).” That’s where the 40 hours of training comes in.”Įach repair presents its own challenges, some can come in mangled, or the screen can come in broken spider-webbed, and some can take more time than others. That’s why we see the value in offering this as a service, because we have certified people to do that. With the iPhone, you have to take apart a lot of it to get to what you’re trying to do. “You have to apply a lot of heat with a heat gun to try to loosen the adhesive. “If you fix an iPad screen, you have to do quite a bit to get the screen off,” said Wendt. Some of these repairs can be challenging it’s not always an easy fix. That’s what makes this device repair such a natural transition.” We’ve always done repairs on building custom battery packs for people and repairing battery packs for people. We do offer a lot of other services, as a part of our repair services. We want to have device repair as another service that we offer.
“Device repair is what’s considered our third major part, along with batteries and bulbs. “We already replace batteries in the devices so it was really a natural transition to do this, too,” said Wendt. Incorporating these new services has been a natural extension of one service that’s been done at these stores for some time – battery replacement. In addition to screen repair, other device repair services offered include speaker replacement, port repair, camera replacement and button replacement. To do this, said Wendt, “we removed the entire old assembly and put a new assembly in. Prices for screen repair range from $99 to $130. Screen repair is offered for Apple products, including the iPhone, iPod and iPad, and for the Samsung Galaxy S3.
What’s really blown me away is how many people have iPhones and how many have them that are broken.”
It’s been a very, very positive reaction from our customers. “I have people come back and say it’s like a brand new device. “Response from customers has been really fantastic,” said Wendt. “It takes about 60 to 90 minutes, on average,” said Wendt.Īt the West Allis location, device repair went live about two months ago, and Wendt said the early returns have been positive. The technicians work in the Batteries Plus Bulbs store locations and fix damaged phones on site. “A certified person doesn’t get to work on a live consumer repair until they complete the 40 hours and pass a test.” “All of our technicians go through a 40-hour certification training,” said Wendt. There are 10 stores located in southeastern Wisconsin and all of them offer device repair.ĭevice repair technicians at these stores go through a training process to become certified to provide the service. It’s a real value for our customers.”īatteries Plus Bulbs’ rollout of its device repair is starting in the Milwaukee area, and at other corporate locations in Tennessee and Virginia, said Wendt. “For a small percentage of that cost, we can get them the repair they need. Wendt, manager at the company’s store at 10724 W Greenfield Ave. “If you break your iPhone screen and look at buying a brand new one, if you’re still in your contract, you’re looking at $300, $400, $500 for a new phone,” said R.J. The company has recently introduced “device repair” as an in-store service. One company that is looking to address these issues is Hartland-based Batteries Plus Bulbs.
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